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ANNEXATION OF THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 



SlVEECn 



HON. GALUSHA A. GROW, 



oi<' rK>risrsvi^\'^v.Ni/s., 



IIOl'SK OF l{i:i»I{I-]SENTATIV^ES, 



Tuesday, June 14, 1S9S. 



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1898. 






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38096 



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IIOX. (1 A LTSII A A. (i i:o\V. 



Tlio IIuiiso liiiviii^ un<h>r i'ini.si<l«<rntiou tli« joint roHnliitlnn i II. lies. iVfi to 
proviilu for aiiiicxiiiK tlio Ilawiiiinii Islmuls to tlio I'uilcil Staton 

Mr. GROW sai.l: 

Mr. SriCAKKU: This nation nt'i><ls Ihr Hawaiian Island-i f<>r the 
benotit of its connnerc-.' in peaco and its itrotortion in war. It is a 
fact conceddl by everybody that for commerce between the west- 
ern shores of this coTitinent and Asia there must be some inter- 
mediate land for a coalint^ station for sliipseni^aKCil in commerce. 
The Hawaiian Islands hold such a jjosition, bein*^ for all i>ractical 
l)urposes about midway between tlie two continents, witli a land- 
locked harbor misurpassed in size and safety. To si'curo the 
possession of this harbor for tho future against all contiuKcncies 
the sovereignty of the islands is necessary, for whoever owns tho 
islands owns the harbor. All treaties whatsoever would fall witk 
a change of ownership. 

It is chiimod by tho opponents of annexation that there is an- 
other route; of eiiual commercial advantage ami le-s in distance 
from continent to continent by the way of Unala.ska. It is a 
route discovered in the argument of this question and not here- 
tofore discovered by commerce. I venture the assertion that few, 
if any, vessels in trade between the American and Asiatic conti- 
nents ever yet sailed on this route from Han Franci.sco to any port 
in Asia, unless it was one in the Arctic .seas. 

When pre.sented in this debate, it i-eminded me of the chap in 
New York who surprised the stockbrokers for a short time with 
a declaration that ho had found a railroad route between New 
York and Chicago ^'."JO miles shorter than any existing one, or any 
other that could bo constructed, and he could i)rove it by his map. 
When the map was produced, there was a heavy red straight line 
drawn from New York to Chicago, which crossed tho Alleghany 
Mountains at tho highest summit in the range. And this was liis 
shortest route. The map was correct, but the capital to build tho 
railroad was not in sight. 

Lines drawn on the map of a wide ocean representing the chan- 
nels of commerce are very well if commerce follows such lines. 
But if it does not, reasons wliy it miglit do so are of little conse- 
(juence. If tho re;xsons urged against anne.xation now had pre- 
vailed while the purchase of Alaska was pending, wn should not 
have thia new logical route at all, for Alaska itself would still bo 
Russian territory. There never has been any acejuisition of ter- 
ritory without more or less oi)position at tho time of the acciuisi- 
tion, and the reasons were very much tho .same as those now 
offered— unconstitutional and dangerous to the liberties of the 
country. 

I will not take the time of the House in di.scu.s.sing any consti- 
tutional (pieslion relative to tho acquisition of territory by this 



Government. Mr. Jefferson said in 1803 that there was no grant 
of power in the Constitution for such acquisition; yet, beginning 
with his Administration, we have acquired foreign territory in 
area more than three times as great as that claimed by the original 
thirteen colonies or which the Government owned at the time of 
the adoption of our present Constitution. 

For almost a century, beginning with Jefferson, the nation has 
been acquiring territory by treaty and by joint resolution and 
under Administrations of different political parties. If anything 
can be settled by the uniform practice of the Government, the 
power to acquire territory ought to be settled by this uniform, 
unbroken practice for almost a century, sustained t}y every branch 
of the Government and ratified universally by the people. 

I am content to follow this uniform, unbroken practice m the 
exercise of a power that must certainly rest somewhere in the 
Government, or it could not have been thus sustained by all de- 
partments of the Government for this long period. 

This question is not a law to be construed; it is a power of gov- 
ernment to be exercised. And by that exercise in the past and by 
that alone the nation has in this first hundred years of its exist- 
ence been enabled to expand from thirteen feeble colonies, hemmed 
in by the Atlantic Ocean in front, the Mississippi River m the 
rear, and Spanish and French dominion on the south, to forty-five 
independent Commonwealths, spanning a whole continent from 
ocean to ocean and extending through almost every zone. 

For the exercise of this power to acquire territory it only needs 
a clear, unequivocal commercial necessity for the American peo- 
ple and a willing consent of the people occupying the territory to 
be acquired. In such case, while there could be no question as to 
constitutional power, the circumstances existing at the time would 
determine as to the wisdom of its exercise. 

The great reason for the exercise of this power now by the Con- 
gress of the United States applies to Hawaii and not to any other 
portion of the earth. It does not apply to Mexico, Canada, Cuba, 
or any other territory on the American continent. For the rea- 
son that after Cuba shall have established a republic, the institu- 
tions of all these countries being substantially republican can not 
be a menace in any way to our liberties, and there are no great 
commercial necessities, nor can there be any, requiring any gov- 
ernment changes in our territorial relations with either of these 
nations. Hence in our commercial necessities Hawaii stands 
alone, separate and distinct from any other portion of the earth's 
surface, and in no way connected with any question that may 
hereafter arise as to other nations. 

The ultimate annexation of the Hawaiian Islands to the United 
States is not a new question. Every President except one for 
half a century has notified the nations of the earth that the people 
of these islands could never unite their destinies with any nation 
except our own. When England, in 1843, took possession of these 
islands, Mr. Legare. then Secretary of State, notified the Govern- 
ment of Great Britain of our position, and she withdrew. Later, 
when France attempted to take possession, Mr. Webster, then 
Secretary of State, repeated to France in substance Mr. Legare s 
dispatch to England, and France withdrew. 

For fifty years every President except Cleveland has notified 
the world that no other nation would be permitted to estabhsh 
their sovereignty over these islands, and that the people thereon 
must be allowed to control their own destiny. Grover Cleveland 

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was the first official in the adiniuiHtration of thin ( tovcrnuK'nt to 
attcnipt a reversal uf its hi^^t^)rical nolii-y rt-Utivo to Hawaii. 

lio undertook to n'storu ovor that p<'oi>U' a monarchy over- 
thrown hy its lihirty-lovint,' subjects and, usiuj,' tho ruvi-uuc cut- 
ters and war sliijis o't tlie nation with shoUvd trims as a m>nacc-in 
the harbor of Hawaii, lie directed his ;iciredit«-<l ;i;^'iMit t<j tlu» now 
lii-public to demand, in the n;imo of the Tnitecl States, that it» 
chosen otlicials should alMli< ate tlieir powers, and. knetiliuj; iual>- 
ject submission at the foot of t ho restored throne, kiss the extende<l 
hand of its dusky C^ueen. This attempt by the President of the 
United Stales to restore a defunct m..n;iri-hy will brand Gruver 
Cleveland throu.-h all time in the annals of impartial history uh 
recreant to liberty and false to the spirit and geniua of free inati- 
tutions. 

If I had any doubt as to the vital importance of these islands to 
the future commercial well-beiut,' ot the United States, 1 should 
•hesitiite long before setting np my own judgment against the 
united opinions of the long line of eminent statesmen wh » have 
been intrivsted with the administration of public allairs, and who 
are held in so high estimation for political wisdom by their coun- 
trymen of all political parties. The gentleman from Arkansas 
[Mr. DiNSMoRii] quoted a general opinion by Mr. Sherman against 
the acquisition of foreign territory, and then attcuijited to impeach 
his own witness, who, as Secretary of State, signed the treaty for 
the acquisition of these very islands included in the resolutions 
before us. 

He could have quoted with equal force from Mr. Legan- and 
Mr. Webster in their correspondence with England and France, 
in which they declared that it was not the policy of this Goveni- 
juent to acquire colonial possession, and yet they b(jth insisted 
that these islands, by the consent of their people, must some day 
become a part of American territory, or at least that they never 
could by our consent become a part of any other. And now when 
their people desire to cast their political fortunes with ours and we 
refuse, will it be claimed by anybody that henceforth wo can 
rightfully prevent them from casting their lot with any other na- 
tion? Such a refusal would be an attcnipt on our part to iinpose 
npou them a despotic control more odious than was that of (Jleve- 

Tli'e gentleman from Arkansas [Mr. Dinsmorf] ."^aid that the 
time might c ome when it would be. i.erhajis. advisable to anne.\ 
the.se islands, but not now. Now is the only time tliat the L nited 
States can rightfully dispose of that question. After our rejec- 
tion the destiny of these islands is in the keeping of their people, 
and to bo determined bv them alone. Whether their fortunes 
shall then be cast witli England, France, Japan, or any other 
nation will be for them to determine. 

All questions arising out of tlie existing war with Spam proi>erly 
belong by them.selves and are to be settled in view of the circum- 
stiinccs and conditions existing at the tim- of their settlement. 

In the discu-ssion on the (question Ix'.'ore us wo have heard much 
about wars and their dangers to liberty. War prosocute«l for 
selfish ends in upholding despotic dynasties or for tlio m< re ex- 
tension of territorial domiuion is an unmitigated, inexcusable 
barbarism. 

But wars, with all their miseries and woes, in the interest of 
humauitv. in behalf of struggling raecs or nationalities, to secure 
or regain their inalienable rights, have been of great benefit to 



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luaiikiiul. In the world's decisive ]).'itt.les from Marathon to Get- 
tysburg, such battles as have changed for all time the current of 
human events and the destiny of empires, great battalions have 
always marched in the rear of great ideas. 

The generation of the American people now fast passing away 
have had not a little home experience in the horrors of war. They 
have seen their country shrouded in the sable habiliments of 
mourning and woe and flooded with widows' and orphans' teai-s. 
And to the end of this generation an occasional tear for the un- 
returning brave will glisten in the eye of bereavement around 
disconsolate firesides. But the new Republic is worth over the 
old the priceless sacrifice of blood and sorrow which it cost. 
While "'peace has its victories no less renowned than war," yet 
most of the mighty achievements in the onward progress of the 
race to a better civilization have been wrought by the sword. 

It seems to be a part of the plans of Divine Providence that 
every marked advance in civilization must begin in mighty con- 
vulsions. The moral law was first proclaimed in the thimders of 
Sinai, and the earthly mission of the Saviour of mankind closed 
with the rending of mountains and the throes of the earthquake. 
The Goddess of Liberty herself was born in the shock of battle, 
and amid its carnage has carved out some of our grandest vic- 
tories, while o'er its crimson fields the race has marched on to 
higher and nobler destinies. As the lightnings of heaven rend 
and destroy only to purify and reinvigorate, so freedom's cannon 
furrows the fields of decaying empires and seeds them anew with 
human gore, from which springs a more vigorous race to cherish 
the hopes and guard the rights of mankind. 

The millennium, long promised, when the lion and the lamb 
will lie down together and a little child shall lead them, will 
some time come. But not till all governments are based on the 
consent of the governed and every human being is in the enjoy- 
ment of liberty protected by law. Then, and not till then, can the 
sword be beat into plowshares and the spear into pruning hooks. 
Until that time tiie ear of humanity will be pained with the roar 
of hostile cannon and the angels must weep over the martyred 
brave. 

When tlie smoke vanished from the last battlefield of the Amer- 
ican civil war and its armed hosts returned to their homes, lay- 
ing aside their armor for the implements of the various avocations 
of peace, there was a universal belief that the Republic had seen 
its last war. It was not thought then that any circumstances 
could possibly ever arise for the Government to call its citizens 
again from their peaceful pursuits to the tented field. But such 
a summons has gone forth, and the drumbeat and tramp of 
marching armies are again heard, and the thrilling reports of un- 
precedented naval victories come floating over the seas. 

This nation is at war with Spain to end her brutal warfare upon 
women and children and to put a stop to the infliction of her 
cruel atrocities upon a neighboring people, and because she failed 
to maintain in the Island of Cuba a government able and willing 
to protect the lives of American seamen under the flag of their 
country on a mission of peace to her ports. 

In justice to the memory of the hero martyrs who died under the 
flag of their country by Spanish treachery, and in behalf of the 
claims of a common humanitj', of a people doomed to extermina- 
tion by starvation and the sword, this nation demanded that Spain 



Bhould witlidrnw lifr Hag mid forever abnndun her sovereignty 
ovor tlin Islaiiil of C'libn. 

For this 1)Uij)oho tlio President was authorized tointrrveno with 
the Army and tho Nuvy of Iho United States and Ktop thiHdonhly 
eruel and It.irliarous warfare. WIk-u that Hhall havo Leen ihjne 
the iie.)i)leof Cuba can tlien eBtalilinh for theni.se vea a fnH- and 
indei)endent j,'overnnient to ho recognized by Iho L'uilod . States of 
Anioriea as a sister rej)nblic. 

In tho (bschargo of thi.s national obbpation to hurannity and to 
liberty, as well as tho hi;(her oblipition ami duty of J)rotectin^; 
tlio lives of American .-eatnen, under tho lla.if ol their country 
wherever it floats, tliis nation h;us intervened witli it.s ^reat power 
for till) acccjiiiplislmieiit of sucli a jjurpose. And wlien it hIihII 
have beenacconiplislied, tho vindication of tJie patriot heroes who 
found a watery K'avo in tlio harbor of Havana will bo the expul- 
sion forever of Spanish sovereif,'nty from tho American Continent. 
And these heroes will not tlien have died in vain. Tb« tablet 
that will bear their memory through all time can then bo in- 
scribed: 

Whether on tho scaflTuld high 

Or in tho hatlli-'M van, 
Tlio 111 test phK'o whoro man can die 
Is whoro uo dies for umnl 

Tho objects to bo obtained, and the only ones ox]»ected when 
Conprrces passed tho declaration of war against Spain, were con- 
fined to tho Island of Cuba. And the gentleman from .Missouri 
[Mr. Bland] and the gentleman from Tennessee [Mr. Rkhakd- 
sox I quoted the declared purpose in that declaration of war to 
sustain their positions against any acquisition of territory as a 
result of the war. 

I agree with tlicm that when that declaration of war passed there 
was no purpose or thought by anybixly of ac(iuiring additional 
territory as a result of tliis war. Humanity alone controlled 
in the passage of this declaration. But a nation which appeals 
to battle for the settlement of any question must bo ready to meet 
any and all responsibilities resulting therefrom, whether foreseen 
or not. 

The same Congress of tho United States which authorized the 
equipment of 500,f)iX) men to preserve this Union declared by re-so- 
lution that the war was not to be prosecuted for tho emancipation 
of slaver}'. Yet the first gun fired in that conflict was the death 
knell of hnman bondage, and the sun in hus course across the con- 
tinent from ocean to ocean uo longer rises on a master or seta on 
a slave. 

In our national di stiny what new pathways may be blazed out 
bv American cannon on land and battle sliips on tho seas no pro- 
phetic ken can now foresee. And how and in what way the Amer- 
ican people ought to discharge the new, unforsei-n, unexpected 
responsibilities cast ui)on them in far off Asia no human siigacity 
can now foretell. 

If the intervention of this nation in the affairs of Spain in bo- 
half of humanity and liberty in Cuba ehall result, in the provi- 
dences of God, in the emancipation of ten millions of i>eoiile in 
her colonics from her despotic rule, shall the American people 
shrink from these new responsibilities in behalf of lil)rrty and 
humanity? Has tho rule of Spain in the Philippines l)oen any 
more humane than in Cuba? Through a long liistory her cruelty 
in peace and brutality in war have jiroduced at intervals long or 
:!437 



LIUKHKY Uh UUNUKtbb 



013 744 611 P 



short tlie Alvas and the Weylers, counterpai'ts of the Neros and 
Caligulas of pagan Rome in the zenith of her briital shows of 
dying gladiators and women and children torn to pieces by wild 
beasts in the arena of her Coliseum, a gala-day spectacle for 
Roman hohdays. 

Within a week after the declaration of war against Spain by the 
Congress of the United States 8,000,000 of people in the Philip- 
pines that had been subjected for four hundred years to the des- 
potic, cruel rule of Spain, such as she had exercised over the Island 
of Ciiba, were liberated from their thraldom by a naval victory 
in battle unparalleled in the world's history, unexpected and iiu- 
thought of when the declaration of war against Spain passed. 

Commodore Dewey, with a squadron of the American Navy, 
cruising in Asiatic waters on the customary mission of his Gov- 
ernment to friendly nations, suddenly finds himself shut out of 
the ports and harbors of every nation by the enforcement of the 
international law of strict neutrality between bellisrerents. With 
the Stars and Stripes flying at the masthead of his squadron he 
enters a harbor of Spain, destroying its land fortifications and 
sinking a formidable navy moored there for their defense, with- 
out the loss of a man or a ship, and with slight injury to either. 

Does anyone who believes in the control of an overruling 
Providence in the affairs of men believe that such a victory was 
a mere accident? There is a divinity in the destiny of nations as 
well as in the lives of individuals — 

That shapes our ends, rough hev/ them how we will. 

In the retributions for organized national wrongs it is fixed in 
the immutable decrees of that overruling Providence that nations 
which incorporate into their institutions, their customs, or their 
laws a barbarism that blunts the sense of justice and chills the 
humanity of their people will soon or late surely die. It is the 
great fact stamped on all the crumbling ruins that strew the path- 
way of empires. 

If we divest ourselves of the egotistical belief so congenial to 
human nature that the generation of thejn'eseut is wiser than any 
that will succeed it, we can then safely intrust the settlement of 
all public questions to the considerate judgment of the generation 
that may be called upon to settle them, in full confidence that it 
will be done quite as wisely and as well as it would be if done by 
ourselves. Let the present generation with bold and manly hearts 
meet its own responsibilities to liberty and humanity, and settle 
them in its own best judgment in view of surrounding circum- 
stances, without reference to supposed conjectural conditions iu 
the future. 

Trust no future, howe'or pleasant I 
Let the dead past bury its dead! 
Act. act in the living present! 
Heart within, and God o'erhead! 

The starry banner of our fathers, baptized in patriot blood in 
the first and second war of American independence, and re- 
christened in the mighty conflict of arms in the history of the 
race, will henceforth, over whatever portion of the earth's surface 
it may float, be the emblem of liberty, justice, and the inalienable 
rights of mankind. 
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